PORTUGAL

Olá!

This weekend was spent in Portugal with Brynne's Grandmother! It was a calm trip before the storm of finals hit! On Monday, Meagan finally gave in and cut her hair!! It was an adventure to communicate what she wanted at the hair salon, but we had so much fun experiencing a local taste of Barcelona! Then, on Wednesday, we found our first Mexican restaurant since Oklahoma-Rosa Negra. We ate a yummy dinner before heading to the airport to pick up Brynne's Grandmother. We took her to her hotel where she got upgraded to a suite and enjoyed filling her in on our Barcelona life!
Thursday, Brynne showed her Grandmother Park Guell, Sagrada Familia and Passeig de Gracia while Katie and Meagan did homework. That night, Brynne's Grandmother took us all to Tapas where we tried yummy cheese and finally tasted Sangria! Then, we headed back for our weekly Thursday night packing and headed to bed.

Friday morning came a little later than usual with an 8:00 flight to Madrid. However, we had a slight issue. The computer hadn't let us check in online during the week but told us to go to the counter before our flight. When we got to the counter, they informed us that we were on standby. Luckily, there were JUST enough seats on the plane for the four of us to board! We landed in Madrid and returned to a yummy café for lunch. The rest of our day in Madrid was spent seeing the famous sights and relaxing in Retiro Park. Before we left, we got our favorite frozen yogurt one last time and hopped on the bus to the airport. We flew Easy Jet for the first time and surprisingly loved it! We got the exit row AND they had Orangina! What could be better? We landed in Portugal, got a cheap taxi ride to the hotel and headed out to find some dinner. We landed at a Portuguese family-owned restaurant where we enjoyed their spin on pasta. We returned to our hotel and fell asleep very quickly!

Saturday morning began with a fun surprise-a delicious breakfast! We got to have warm cappuccinos, yogurt with granola, lots of fresh fruit, eggs and pastries. Needless to say, we were very happy! That morning we got to explore Bairro Alto, a famous neighborhood in Lisbon-known for their colorful buildings and cobblestone streets. We had fun looking at all the different architecture and finally making our way to the ocean. From our view of the ocean, we could see the suspension bridge
that was designed by the same architect as the Golden Gate Bridge. We wandered down a famous street in the city center and grabbed some lunch. Then, we met our tour to Sintra and the coast. Sintra was an adorable town with two palaces, shops with homemade goods and yummy snacks! We enjoyed the nice weather and spent a couple of hours exploring the town. Our next stop was the western most point of continental Europe. The view was breathtaking with the only currently working lighthouse in Europe and the famous Portugal cliffs lining the coast. We were even lucky enough to be there as the sun was setting over the Atlantic Ocean. Next, we went to Cascais where we got to quickly see the port and adorable town. We returned to Lisbon in time for dinner and went back to the hotel exhausted.

Sunday also began with a yummy breakfast! Brynne's Grandmother did a hop on hop off tour while we explored the famous park and the 12-story El Cortes Inglés while the storm passed. We met Brynne's Grandmother in the afternoon for lunch. We tried the Portuguese version of a hot dog and surprisingly liked it! Then, we headed to the botanical gardens and felt like we had entered a rain forest. We saw a butterfly garden and many different types of trees. For our afternoon snack, we found a picturesque tea room. We got FRESH raspberry lemonade, and the owner even gave us free macaroons as a Portuguese gift! For the remainder of a our time in Lisbon, we wandered Bairro Alto, relaxed in a square where a guy was playing music and shopped a little as we went. We made it to the airport early, and we found a Pizza Hut for dinner!! We have never been that excited to eat Pizza Hut, but it sure did hit the spot! We're missing American food a little bit, if you can't tell. We safely made it back to Barcelona at 12:15 am and fell asleep very quickly!

Monday consisted of studying and a test. Brynne took her Grandmother to the famous market for lunch, and we all went to dinner down by the beach. The food was wonderful, but the service…not so wonderful. Late last night, we lost our running water for about 12 hours. No worries, it's back now, and thankfully we had wifi the whole time! haha.

Sadly, Brynne's Grandmother left us this morning to go back home! We loved having some company and a little taste of home!

We're looking forward to this weekend but not so much the studying that comes with the next two weeks.

Here's the video! http://youtu.be/jUq0GOt4oA0

Lots and lots of love from Barcelona!
Brynne, Katie & Meagan